Planning and adhering to a budget is one of the most challenging tasks for people when it comes to their personal finances. Knowing what you can reasonably afford each month becomes even more crucial when you’re purchasing your first house because it’s probably the biggest purchase you’ve ever made. If you are currently renting, a
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What is the First-Time Homebuyer Incentive? The Government of Canada offers a shared equity mortgage (loan) as a first-time home buyer incentive. There are no ongoing payments or interest paid on the incentive, but the loan must be paid back within 25 years or when the property is sold, whichever occurs first. How does the
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With inflation sky-high, you might be considering leveraging the equity in your Victoria BC home to finance an important project or meet a big expense. A second mortgage uses your home as collateral for an additional loan on the property. There are pros and cons to this, which we will discuss below, but first let’s
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Shopping for a house in Victoria BC is stressful. Housing prices on Vancouver Island and specifically in Victoria BC just keep on going up, in contrast to dropping prices elsewhere in British Columbia. With house prices so high, choosing the right mortgage is critical. A lot is on the line when selecting a mortgage, since
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If there’s one thing our team of mortgage planners has learned from their years of experience, it’s that no two mortgages are the same. Even if, on the surface, you think that your situation matches your neighbor, friend, co-worker or parent, it doesn’t take much digging to start finding differences. Since you’re not “just
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British Columbia is a great place to live, but, unfortunately, for a first-time home buyer — often a younger person — the barriers to home ownership are quite prohibitive. The BC housing market is expensive and competitive. A first-time home buyer in BC will need to have their finances in tip top shape and will
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Plenty of people in British Columbia have a dream of owning their own home. Renting is not the most comfortable or stable of situations — and then there’s the high rents to consider. In Victoria BC, the average rent for a one-bedroom was $2,053 per month in September 2023, and it is even worse in
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Prime lending rates have been increasing since the beginning of 2022 in response to the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) attempt to get a handle on inflation. In their July 2023 announcement the BoC raised Canada’s overnight lending rate to 5%, resulting in the 7.2% prime rate currently used by banks. High prime rates mean a
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